While most of us think of plastic crockery as being best suited for camping, there was a time in the 1950s when it nearly overtook conventional ceramics in people’s kitchens, but by the late ’60s things had returned to normal, and melamine designs became more targeted for the outdoor market. But because of this melamine craze in the ’50s, you see these beautiful sets of melamine dinner services that were clearly designed for more than just camping trips! Just look at the beautiful detail on the cup handles – way too pretty for a caravan holiday! That being said if you are into the outdoors why shouldn’t you drink your tea out of a pretty cup? The bowls and plates would also be great for families with young kids – while melamine can break, it’s still way more hardy than traditional crockery!

Note: The set is in decent condition of its years, but the plates do have some fine scratches that are visible if you’re looking for them, and someone (not me!) has scratched the centres of the plates and bowls trying to remove old price stickers.

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How great are these egg cups?! The bright orange just pops right out at you doesn’t it? And the shape is super cool! Plus they’re really good quality melamine – quite a bit thicker than you’d expect them to be – so they’ll withstand the rowdiest of kids!

Note: There are some minor scratches that aren’t visible in the photos, but no serious signs of wear.

Dimensions: Each egg cup measures 12.5cm wide x 13cm long x 3cm tall

Price: R130 set of six

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I just love these retro melamine breakfast bowls! The white of the bowls is quite scratched from use, but not terribly so – and a bit of wear’s not really the end of the world – these are great quality bowls that were designed to last! Aside from the fact that I love melamine ( I really do!), I also really like the shape and the colour of the bowls. They’ve got a great retro feel to them and are nice and deep so your milk won’t spill when you’re carrying you cereal to the breakfast table (a problem I’ve encountered lately with some too-shallow bowls that I bought!).

A very funky and hard-wearing set that would be great for a family with kids, or for grown-ups who have a passion for super cool retro design!

Dimensions: Each bowl measures 18.5cm long x 15cm wide x 4.5cm deep

Price: R120 for the set of four bowls

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While Melamine’s fairly hardy, it’s still unusual to find a set of teacups, complete with saucers, side plates, milk jug & sugar bowl! Of course it would have been nice to have also had the matching teapot, but I’m more than happy with this set as it is (we can’t be too greedy!). The pattern on the side plates is something that I haven’t seen before – more often than not, these Melamine sets are a single colour, so it’s a nice to see something a bit different. The colour of the cups is difficult to describe (I’m not very good at seeing subtle shades of colour, or so my brother tells me) – it looks like a soft pinky-brown, but I think the photos reflect the colour fairly well, so you make up your mind on that one. There are some scratches to the cups and saucers from many years of use (unfortunately not visible in the pics), and the milk jug has a manufacturing defect where a bit of the colour has been smudged onto the white rim, but for its age, this set’s in pretty decent nick!

A sweet and hard wearing tea set that would be great for every day use.

Note: Mint puts up four new items every weekday. The first post goes up at 07h00, the second at 08h00 and the third and fourth at 08h30. You can subscribe to our daily email which goes out at around 09h00 by clicking on the pink envelope on the right hand side of the blog(more…)

This Melamine set has taken a bit of a beating over the years – the side plates in particular are quite scratched, and obviously the saucers have gone awol at some point. The cups, though, seem to be in reasonably good nick, and in my mind are super-attractive! The Melamine is a dark navy blue (I think they might look black in the pics?), and I love the shape of the cups with those great retro handles!

A practical, but stylish set that would be perfect for a spring picnic, or as everyday ‘crockery’ for the home.

Note: Mint puts up four new items every weekday. The first post goes up at 07h00, the second at 08h00 and the third and fourth at 08h30. You can subscribe to our daily email which goes out at around 09h00 by clicking on the pink envelope on the right hand side of the blog

It’s been absolutely ages since I’ve had any Melamine for sale! And this is a particularly nice set – I love the shape of the side plates – so retro! Sadly my not-so-keen eye didn’t pick up on the fact that one of the side plate is different, as are two of the cups – sometimes I get too excited and miss things I really should notice! But I still would have bought them – as I say, they’re hard to come by, especially a set this nice, and the green is a perfect match so it’s not that easy to spot (that’s the defense I’m going with!).

A handsome bit of retro Melamine crockery, perfect for home or a super-stylish winter picnic!

Mint puts up four new items every weekday. The first post goes up at 07h00, the second at 08h00 and the third and fourth at 08h30. You can subscribe to our daily email which goes out at around 09h00 by clicking on the pink envelope on the right hand side of the blog